A Divine Love Affair - Part Four

Posted 11/21/14 by Donald Barnhouse
SCRIPTURE
John 17:1-9
 
When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

LESSON
 
After Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, John said, "Who is Jesus?" and God said, "Look, He is the Ancient of days of Daniel." Who else has feet like fine brass? If you turn back on Jeremiah it describes Jehovah of Hosts coming in judgment, and His feet are as fine brass, to tread the wrath of God. Who has eyes as a flame of fire? If you turn to Ezekiel you find that this is an index to the vision of Ezekiel. You have seven lines here that take you to seven great visions in the Old Testament, each one of which was a vision of the Lord God Almighty. So God says, "Do you want to know who Jesus is? He is the Jehovah of Isaiah; He is the Ancient of days of Daniel; He is the Lord God of Hosts of Jeremiah; He is the Son of man; He is everything that God was to the prophets of the Old Testament." Jesus now is exalted at the right hand of the Father. He is our God.
 
And when He got to heaven, He heard His Father say, "Sit at my right hand till (and that word till is very important) I make your enemies your footstool."
 
One day Christ will come forth from heaven in a manner described in the Old Testament, so terrible that I dare not originate the language. Isaiah says that Jesus Christ is going to squash our civilization like a bunch of grapes.
 
I have been in Mediterranean countries at the time of making wine and have seen the men roll their trousers up to their knees and go into the winepress to tread out the grapes with their bare feet. The men trample the grapes till the juice splashes on them.
 
When He comes again, the Lord Jesus Christ will crush beneath His feet our American way of life, for never before have so many sinned against so much. University life, Wall Street, Broadway and Hollywood, the arts, literature, and ecclesiasticism will be stepped on and crushed by Jesus Christ at His Second Coming. This is the teaching of the Word of God. "Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool" (Heb. 1:13). The day will come when He will rise from the throne of God, lay aside the robes of His meditation, gird upon Him the sword of justice, and come to rule the nations with a rod of iron and dash his enemies to pieces as a potter's vessel.
 
In that future day, we who belong to Christ will join in the great chorus of Revelation 11:15: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever."' Yes, the Father "raised him from the dead and gave him glory."
 
Just as Proverbs 11:10 says, "When the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness."' I cannot tell you how glad I was to see the picture of Mussolini hanging head down, dead, and to know that this vicious monster had been removed from the earth.
 
Oh, if you know Jesus Christ, you will hate sin. Don't ever say, "God is love," without balancing it with, "God is hate." God is love of the sinner, but God is hate of sin. Unless you make this balance, you have a lame God, a false concept of God. Hebrews 1:9 gives one of the marks of the deity of Christ: "Thou [Jesus] hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows."
 
Jesus Christ hated sin. He told the Pharisees that they would depart into the lake of fire. I love Him for this. Oh, that we might learn to follow our Lord Jesus Christ in His hatred of sin, and understand that He is Lord!

STUDY QUESTIONS

  • If God will crush the ways of the world how does this change our involvement in the world now? Does it?
  • If God has called us to be good stewards of what he has given to us, how do we maintain biblical stewardship over being a citizen of our nation?
PRAY
  • Pray the Lord would guide us in being faithful servants of Christ in our world and that we would not trust in politics over Christ our King.